Its a negotiation. He will get his 4 years. He may have to give up something the other way. Brown knows this. His manager knows this. Even Cornes is aware of this. You seem to be the only one who doesn’t have much clue how contracts work.

It's the start of a contract negotiation. No club starts at their maximum. Clearly we're in agreement on money, the first approach is a smaller term for a key forward that can't get through a preseason without niggles/injury who will be in his 30's when a deal concludes. It's a careful approach for a new regime. Every man and his dog at Arden St knows he's going to sign. When you're bargaining with your own players it's a lot easier to start your approach from the opposite end of the arena than when you are trying to dangle carrots to lure younger players of need from other clubs. This is an end of season article for clubs playing chicken with a players contract, you'd know as you went through similar with McGovern a couple of seasons back. I wouldn't be surprised if this contract is done before the season starts.

None of that though defers from the fact that I think Cornes is garbage and he's had a personal grudge against North for a very long time.